


Chariot of the Dead

by Diary



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Bechdel Test Fail, Bittersweet, Character Death, Disturbing Themes, Fae & Fairies, Family, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Love, Morally Ambiguous Character, POV Anthony Rester, POV Male Character, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 06:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7608208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at Rester shortly before the Kiras's defeat and after. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chariot of the Dead

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Death Note.

Occasionally, Near weaves.

Rester is always afraid Near will prick himself, but Near never does.

“I wish to keep Light-kun."

Sighing, Rester tries to explain, “Near, that will never be allowed. The Japanese government, the American government, your government, and countless others are all going to be vying for him. None of them are going to allow you to imprison him for your own amusement.”

“Amusement has nothing to do with it,” Near responds. He finishes weaving and shakes out his newest creation. “And assuming the Shinigami don’t take him, I will claim Light-kun for my own.”

Instinctively, Rester thinks of Mello. The hooded cloak is much too big for Near and covered in strange symbols of various colours, red, blue, green, brown, and white along with crosses made of gold.  

“If Mello agrees to work with me and wants him, I will give Light-kun to him,” Near continues. He holds the cloak up. “Hang this in the moonlight. In the morning, I’ll fold it and put it in my trunk.”

Rester complies.

…

Gevanni is disdainful of Rester and Halle’s cooking skills, and therefore, has taken over the task.

Halle prefers coddled eggs with burnt bacon and black coffee, and Rester has been eating eggs benedict with shredded hash browns and decaffeinated coffee with one sugar and three creams for years. Gevanni himself is fond of omelettes, and today’s contains cheese, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and turkey bacon. Unlike them, Gevanni doesn’t like coffee and drinks homemade lemonade.

Near used to be difficult to feed and had to be given vitamin supplements, but eventually, through trial-and-error, they discovered he’d eat a slice of white bread with butter and honey, a small bowl of rice with almond milk poured in, and slices of whatever fruit he choose. He drinks cold-brewed white tea and, occasionally, a bit of heavily watered orange juice.

Today, he picks a banana, and Rester removes the skin and slices it into triangle shapes.

Setting the bread into his bowl, Near holds it out, and Rester pours more milk into the bowl over it. Beginning to poke at the bread with his spoon, Near inquires, “What is Takada-san’s schedule for the day, Lidner?”

“This morning, she has an appointment with… And at two, she and Amane are supposed to be meeting, but given what happened last time… There are currently no plans for her to meet Yagami tonight,” she finishes.

By now, Near is finished with his breakfast and trying to balance a nerf ball on a robot. “And Mikami-san, Gevanni?”

“Sir, today is Mikami’s court date. He’s prosecuting that purse snatcher.” Sighing, he adds, “That will soon be dead, of course. For all we know, his name has already been written, and Mikami is just waiting for his conviction.”

Rester reaches over to squeeze his shoulder, and Halle gives him a sympathetic look.

“Mikami-san is a victimised human. Nothing more, nothing less,” Near declares. “When the time comes, you will judge him, Gevanni.”

“Near, none of us can decide what happens once the Kiras are exposed and imprisoned,” Rester patiently reminds him.

“Set up my trainset, Rester."

“Right away."

…

Softly, Rester asks, “Are you alright?”

Halle gives a sharp nod.

Sitting next to the dead body, Near comments, “Mello is likely to die soon. If you can’t, Lidner, someone else must bring his body here.”

Her voice is clear, “I will.”

Taking a pair of scissors, Near carefully cuts off several strands of Mail Jeevas’s hair. “Matt is illegible for organ donation. He will be stored until Mello arrives.”

“Go,” Rester quietly tells Halle. He motions for Gevanni to help him move the body.

When he gets back, he’s discomforted to see Near is weaving the hair into the cloak.

…

For a long moment, Near simply stares down at the body.

He withdraws a cloth bag from his pockets, and pulls out a ring by the tips of his fingernails. It looks to be made of iron, but it shimmers red and dull white. Carefully, he slides the ring on Mello’s left ring finger and uses the cloth bag to push it the rest of the way down.

Finally, he produces a list from one of his pockets. “This is a list of those due to receive organs, hair, and skin from Mello. Once it’s done, his bones are to be flown back to England. He must have a Christian funeral and be buried aside Matt in the cemetery near Wammys.”

Picking up Mello’s rosary, Rester kneels down. “Near, they’d have to take the ring off. Do you want me to put it on this for him?”

Near glances over. “Yes. Thank you, Rester.”

…

Near burns the cloak.

“Why,” Rester asks.

“Mello can never accept it, now,” Near answers. “I had hoped he would wrap it around me one day. But some things can never be taken, no matter how much one needs them. His path was full of unhappiness and, ultimately, pointlessness, but Mello chose it freely. If nothing else, I gave him that.”

…

All the Kiras die.

He loses his cool and pushes Gevanni against a wall. “I saw you writing in the notebook!”

Near’s cool voice startles him. "Yes."

He looks over.

“Let him go, Rester. I promised Gevanni he could decide Mikami-san’s fate, and he did. The world is gray. The Kiras were still wrong and had to be stopped. Gevanni once saved your life. Will you repay him, or will you condemn him for one death that very likely would have happened soon, regardless? This death was peaceful.”

He moves away. “But not right.”

“Right or wrong, none of you will ever go near the note of death, again,” Near dispassionately replies. “I require new foam for the swimming pool.”

…

He checks the rowan wood coffin and finds the rosary and the ring hanging from it are still inside.

The funeral is held outside of a Catholic cathedral on a sunny day, and clad in his usual white with soft, white slippers on his feet and a black sash across his chest, Near stands underneath a large, black umbrella for the whole service.

When it’s time for the burial, Rester leads Near to the graveside. Scooping up a small, mostly solid ball of dirt, Rester gently tells him, “Here, Near. Make the first throw.”

Near clumsily tosses the dirt straight into the air, but to Rester’s shock, the ball seems to unravel in mid-air, and the dirt lands in a neat, vertical line across the coffin.

Rester pulls him away when more people toss handfuls of dirt into the ground.

…

After the service, despite the sunscreen and umbrella, Near’s skin is slightly burnt, and his eyes are sore and watery.

He rubs cream on Near’s skin and applies eye drops to the eyes.

“Your service has been greatly appreciated, Rester. Perhaps, someday, you will be rewarded. You may go, now. Wammys is equipped to take care of me.”

As if on cue, Roger appears. “Near, you have a call from a Georgian ambassador.”

…

Rester makes plans to leave, but Near sees the face of a fugitive, a young, female thief named Sharon Janes, and demands Roger, the other orphans, and the local police bring her to him.

Roger is too old, most of the orphans either ignore him or are forbidden to take action by Roger, and of course, if the police catch her, they won’t be delivering her to him.

When Rester brings her in, Near has her put under guard for seventeen days.

On the seventeenth, he stares at her. “Your lifespan has been exponentially expanded. I advise you to use this well.”

While Roger deals with the confused, scared, angry young woman, Rester sits down near where Near is playing with tarot cards on the floor. “I’d forgotten about your eyes,” he admits. “The- the thing is, when you wanted a civilian kidnapped and imprisoned, I didn’t even think but to comply. What I did find odd was your interest in a thief. You usually only go after murderers, rapists, and abusers.”

Near briefly glances up. “Humans have interesting morality. It’s right a person that has no pieces of painted paper or cotton, no metals shaped a certain way, no pieces of plastic containing computer chips, deserves hunger, to face the elements, to die, and if they try to avoid these things, they’re called immoral. Yet, a person can avoid much by confessing to rape and saying the victim is to blame for them doing such a thing, never mind how contradictory and nonsensical such a statement is.”

He begins flipping the cards over. “People must take what they need. They must take things that make their loved ones happy or that their loved ones need. The law says differently, but until the world is a vastly different place, I have little interest in those called thieves.”

“Life should rarely be taken. A person’s true heart can never be taken, only given. Those who rape are forever damned.”

Near hands him a card.

It’s the chariot.

“The closest thing this world has done for Miss Janes is the fact one of the Kiras didn’t kill her. I’ve given her the chance to have the life she deserves. At the very least, she won’t die too young.”

…

On clear nights when the moon is half full or more, Near visits Mello and Matt’s graves.

Rester always breaks off a piece of chocolate, hands it to Near, and sets the rest of the bar on Mello’s grave.

One night, however, there’s a palatable change in the air, and before he can suggest they go back to Wammy’s, seemingly out-of-nowhere, a woman appears.

She’s beautiful, and she sets his teeth on edge.

“Stand down, Rester. She won’t hurt me.”

“No, I won’t,” she agrees. Kneeling, she continues, “But others of us might, little Nia.” She speaks in the strangest language Rester has ever heard.

He manages to record some of it with his phone.

“So be it,” Near answers without sparing her a glance. “Unlike Mero, I fully know the price, and I will pay it without protest.”

“You think it right?"

“There are three absolute rights, and three absolute wrongs. Everything else flows. I fully know the price, and I will pay it without protest,” Near answers.

Her sigh carries through the wind, and softly, she touches Near’s cheek. “So be it.” She speaks more words in the strange language.

When she walks away, it almost seems as if she vanishes into the air.

…

The recording only plays scratchy, grating static.

Rester almost asks, ‘Near, are you human?’

He’s tempted to resign.

In the end, he does neither.

Near exposes horrible criminals through investigation and deduction alone, and they receive trials. Some of the trials are fairer than others. Some of the criminals keep escaping until they’re killed. Some are killed via capital execution. It’s imperfect, and there are still people who cry out for another Kira.

However, there are also people who are starting to see justice can occasionally be brought without torture, lies, and the threat of death.

“I don’t care how you use the Shinigami eyes, Near, but if you ever use the notebook again, I will leave,” Rester tells him.

Making his airplane zoom, Near replies, “Understood.”

…

Halle appears to give them information on a case and ends up staying.

Pictures of people who received donations from Mello’s body are strung around Near’s area of work on clotheslines.

Occasionally, Rester talks to Gevanni on the phone.

Life goes on, and sometimes, Rester misses being Anthony Carter, a normal cop who believed in the death penalty, vaguely believed in God but only attended church during weddings, and didn’t believe in the supernatural.

But he always wanted a son, and he’s always dreamed of being part of something bigger than himself and bringing real change, change for the better, to the world.

He supposes, in a way, he’s gotten both.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: The woman in the graveyard was a fae. When it comes to Near, however, I tried to leave it ambiguous in-text what exactly he was: a fae, a changling, a human who had a special connection to the fae, or something else entirely. I have my own ideas, but readers should feel free to decide for themselves what he is.


End file.
